The Elitebooks from HP are business-class notebooks, built with the lovely twist we like to call elegance, plus what the folks call “premium consumers design into a commercial-grade device”. At least that is what HP has been up to with its recent Elitebook Folio G1, trying to bring a new edge to the boring work-mode notebook. In an expansion to its Elitebook series, HP has launched a new member to the kin, the 1030. Obviously sitting between the two existing models, the 1020 and 1040, the 1030 must have some sort of balancing act it’s trying to obtain. HP is hoping to aim this iteration at “power-hungry business users with its Intel Core M processor, and claimed 13-hour battery life”.

The 1030 improves upon the HP Elitebook 1020 by increasing its 12.5-inch screen size, now 13.3 inches, as well as its display quality- with the option of either a full HD resolution (1920 x 1080, non-touch), or a 3200 x 1800 QHD+ resolution touchscreen display. Externally, the design is sturdy with both Gorilla Glass 3, and an MIL-STD tested build, cut with all metal, and a spill-resistant keyboard. Externally, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but these Elitebooks sure as heck look a lot similar to Dell’s XPS series. All of this, and the notebook weighs an entire 2.55 pounds. I’d call that a very light laptop, partly in lieu of its fanless design. However, what’s inside is plentiful for the average on-the-go student to professional user.

Inside, there’s a choice of Intel Core M processors, and we all know by now what this means. It’s Intel, it’s good, it’s not as powerful as Core i3/i5/i7, but that is because the laptop is thin and designed sans fan. Intel Core M is perfect for the fanless laptop environment, and it is capable of charge times of up to 13 hours in this particular model. Other features of the HP Elitebook 1030 includes a 512GB to 256GB PCIe SSD, and up to 16GB of RAM; ports include 2 Micro-USB 3.0s, 1 USB-C, an HDMI port, Miracast, WLAN 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 4.2. Lastly, special security features have been added, and professionals should find them useful- including HP Sure Start with Dynamic Protection, a fingerprint reader, an embedded TPM 2.0 chip, and Intel’s vPro technology and LANDesk Software (ZDnet).

Of course, the last thing to cover is price. As mentioned, there are multiple configurations, both display and CPU-wise. Starting price for the HP Elitebook 1030 is right at $1,249, a lot to put down for a base configuration model. Unless, of course, you’re a business professional with money to spend, then you can go anywhere up to HP’s website and pick exactly what tickles your fancy.